


You Gotta Be

by theoncomingwolf



Series: Carol Lives on Earth with M&M AND is a Space Superhero [4]
Category: Captain Marvel (2019), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Backstory, Canon Compliant, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, comics-carol backstory is used to fill in a lot mcu carol's here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:39:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23483212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theoncomingwolf/pseuds/theoncomingwolf
Summary: Carol and Maria's lives, through the years, from friendship to family to forever.(Excerpt from my fic We Became Your Real Family - can be read completely standalone from fic and from series.)
Relationships: Carol Danvers/Maria Rambeau
Series: Carol Lives on Earth with M&M AND is a Space Superhero [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1547398
Comments: 19
Kudos: 78





	You Gotta Be

**Author's Note:**

> If you're reading my other fic, We Became Your Real Family, it's best to read it in order there, but if you've never started that one, maybe this standalone will help you decide if you'd like it! The normal fic is in chronological order all set after the events of Captain Marvel (2019).

♥♥♥

“Who’s that?”

Maria pulls her arms above her head, leaning back in a long stretch as she watches an unfamiliar girl complete yet another lap around the wide perimeter of the fields they’re practicing sprints beside. 

“Carol somethin’. She’s new,” her friend Tomika says, usually more up on the latest around school than Maria is, “just moved here from Boston. She sits near us in English.”

“Oh; yeah.”

Maria recognizes her. The new school year has been in session for a week and a half already, but she’s not got much of an impression of the girl from any of the classes they’re in together. She seems to take a lot of notes, and hasn’t made an effort to talk to anyone around her, keeping her head so quite literally down that Maria’s only gotten brief looks at her face. She’s white, and blonde, with sort of messy, unkempt hair and a tomboyish way of dressing. 

The girl’s hair is up now, pulled into an increasingly loose bun, and she’s sporting a colorful t-shirt tucked into a pair of what seem to be boy’s shorts.

Maria watches until she’s run out of view once more, and lines up again for a 200m sprint. 

They practice for a good while more, taking breaks now and then to drink water and talk about frivolous things. After-school practice doesn’t officially start until winter, but her team has been meeting since late summer to stay in shape. 

“Okay, that’s good for now,” Lisa, a girl most interested in the relay portion of running sports, says, “I gotta get home for dinner.”

“Yeah,” Tomika agrees, “I’m tired.”

Maria scans outside of the fence as she grabs her things, surprised as she spots the new girl coming around the bend once more. She drops her backpack onto the ground, taking off towards a later part of the fence, hoping to catch her before she’s disappeared around the building again.

The girl jumps back as Maria slams her hands playfully into the fence in front of her. She’s breathing hard, from the exercise, staring at Maria with clear puzzlement and wariness.

“Sorry,” Maria laughs, “I don’t bite.”

“I- uh.” She huffs, glancing to Maria’s friends across the field.

“I’m Maria,” Maria introduces, pressing a fist to the chain-link fence, too tall to reach over.

“Carol.” The girl says, staring at her fist. 

Maria doesn’t move it, and slowly, Carol returns the fist bump, smiling briefly in return. She takes her struggling hair tie out with one hand, shaking her head a little and running her fingers through her hair until it falls more naturally.

She’s actually really pretty, Maria decides.

“Were you in track at your old school?”

Carol shakes her head.

“How come?” Maria asks, “You’ve got great stamina.”

Carol shrugs. Woman of few words. 

If any other white girl she just met were giving her radio silence, she’d take the hint and let her make her own friends, but Maria’s seen how she’s interacted with anyone who’s tried to talk to her so far, and it was much of the same. She’s probably just quiet.

“You won’t bother us if you want to run inside the fence.” Maria offers, “We’re out here pretty often, if you ever want to join! We all stretch together before running, and take water breaks now and then.”

“...Thanks.” Carol says, smiling again, briefly, “I might.”

♥♥♥

Carol doesn’t join them for stretching or water breaks at first, but they get her inside the fence, instead of running along the street around and around the school. This new vantage point allows Maria to really appreciate just how long and consistently Carol is running. She’d be great at cross-country. Or marathons.

At some point, Carol catches her staring. Maria watches her smile, turning her head away sharply to hide the gesture.

Maria gets her to join them, eventually, telling her about how she got into track, and about her brother Dion, and that she’s lived here outside of New Orleans her whole life, as did her parents. Carol doesn’t share as much back, but when they land on the subject of academics, she quietly brags that she was top of her class her Freshman year at her last school and that when she grows up, she’s going to be an astronaut.

Funny kid.

“What about you?” Carol asks.

“Well, if we’re just sayin’ whatever we want,” Maria jokes, “I’m gonna be an engineer.”

“You fuckin’ bet you are.” Carol says. Maria almost believes it. 

When they get their first Algebra tests back, Maria waits until she sees Carol glance her way, holding up her 98 proudly. Carol smiles wryly back at her, lifting her perfect 100.

Oh, it’s on.

♥♥♥

Maria’s heart, thrumming from the distinct sound of tapping at her window, jumps right out of her chest at the face peering back at her.

She’s calmed momentarily as she processes it’s only Carol, until it occurs to her that the stupid girl is going to fall and kill herself if she doesn’t get her inside soon.

“Jesus Christ,” she mumbles, dashing over to pry the window open.

“Hi,” Carol says meekly, pulling herself up and collapsing onto Maria’s floor.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” 

Carol shrugs.

“Fight with your dad?” Maria questions, scanning for any signs of injury. The side of her face is a little red, but nothing has visibly bruised yet, and Carol turns red for all sorts of reasons, so it’s hard to tell.

“Yeah.” She admits, leaning slowly against the wall.

“You... need anything?”

Carol shrugs, again.

“You eat?”

She nods.

“A’ight.”

Maria settles next to her, holding her hand and pulling it into her lap. Carol leans against her, head in Maria’s neck. They sit for a little while like this, and Maria tells Carol about whatever comes to mind, to distract her.

Eventually, they’re interrupted by a quiet knock at the door. Maria’s father pokes his head in, staring the two of them down seriously. 

“Lynne catches you coming through that window again, she’s gonna have your ass.”

“Yes sir.”

“Alright,” he rumbles gently, stepping inside. He sets down two glasses of juice at their feet, dropping snack bags from under his arm onto the ground, and hands Carol a few ice cubes in a towel from his pocket. She presses them to the redness by her eye.

“Anyone gonna notice if you stay the night?” He asks.

“Just my ma.” Carol says, “But she won’t tell.”

He nods, leaving the room. Carol sips her juice.

“Cool,” Maria says, smiling gently, “sleepover. I’ll lend you some pajamas.”

“Thanks.”

“...I wish you could just live here.” Maria sighs, taking Carol’s hand once more.

“Me too.”

♥♥♥

Carol’s endless confidence that they’ll achieve her crazy dreams for the both of them can only go so far.

And yet.

“It’s a good plan,” Carol insists, physically grabbing the material of Maria’s trousers, sat across from her in the grass, “OK, so MIT isn’t gonna work out, ‘cause money is an issue,” she continues breezily, as if she wasn’t sobbing about it two days before, “but we don’t even _need_ to pay for college. The Air Force will pay for us.”

“Uh huh.”

“All the most famous astronauts started by flying planes for the Air Force, or the Navy anyway, not with Aerospace degrees from some fancy college,” Carol says, “and they need mechanics to work on planes, so you can learn to do that as a first step until you can become an engineer!”

“Are you kidding me- my mom would lose her mind.”

“It’s not like we would even go to war,” Carol says; Maria wonders if she’s thinking of her poor brother Stevie, drafted and killed in ‘Nam, “they don’t let women fly combat. We could be test pilots, like Chuck Yaeger! I went down to the recruitment office and talked to the guys there, they have some cool test pilot programs.”

“They take you seriously?”

“No, but fuck ‘em.”

“Uh huh.” Maria nods, “So you and me... a black girl and a-” ‘lesbian’, she thinks, but elects not to say; Carol still seems pretty skittish about her accidental confession, “-another girl are just gonna go become Air Force test pilots slash astronauts slash engineers?”

“Sure.”

“Carol.”

“We gotta pave the way,” Carol insists, “like Uhura, from Star Trek.”

“Oh boy.”

“What, you’d rather we take our great GPAs and go back to working at the library or the diner?”

“They’re never letting you work at that diner again.” Maria laughs. Not after she hit that creepy man who grabbed her ass... in front of his kids. She’s lucky she wasn’t arrested. “How about you get a job with me and we both save up to become mechanics. I bet you’d like it.”

“I’d like the ‘you’ part...”

“I’ll think about it,” Maria concedes, so Carol lets it go.

♥♥♥

“It’s gonna be alright,” Carol assures Maria, glancing over to her from the driver's seat on the way to base.

Maria pries her head off the glass.

“I know...”

“I’ll keep living with you as long as you like,” she promises, “even after you have it, if you want.”

“Yeah?” Maria smiles, stressed, but trying her best to not show it, “You’re gonna regret that; my mom was cranky pregnant.”

“I don’t mind cranky Maria,” Carol smiles, “it’ll be a fun challenge.”

“God, what am I gonna tell my mother...”

“We won’t visit her for a few months and then I’ll just say it’s mine.”

“Funny.”

“It’s a good cover, actually, more people need to think I’m dating men.” Carol says, “Maybe it’ll be such a good cover I can actually date a... uh, for once.”

Maria laughs, pressing her palms into her eyes.

“Let’s go tell my Catholic mother that I’m pregnant and you’re a lesbian. Maybe they’ll be so much to take in that they’ll cancel out.”

“I know it’s disappointing Maria got pregnant out of wedlock-”

“With some dude she don’t have the last name of.”

“With some dude- but don’t worry. I will never do that.”

“She’d probably accept that argument, I think she likes you more than me.”

“She just feels bad,” Carol says, but she’s still smiling, “and she doesn’t actually have to claim responsibility for any of my actions.”

“What is Dr Lawson gonna say...”

“She won’t care, that woman is _definitely_ a lesbian.”

“Nooo, about the baby.” Maria says, laughing genuinely; Carol always knows how to cheer her up, even when she’s very stressed, “God, we’re not even officially on her team yet and I’m gonna have to tell her I won’t be able to work in a few months...”

“Well, we don’t have to tell her yet,” Carol says seriously, “but this is the time we thank the lord we’ll have a female C.O. when we do...”

“Amen...”

♥♥♥

Maria’s tired of being pregnant. She’s almost over the finish line, but she just can’t take it anymore.

She’s been home almost every day since they sent her home for work, leaving only to run errands out of boredom or go to doctors’ appointments. Carol gets home later than normal and leaves earlier, working overtime to fill the gaps left by Maria’s absence.

Maria’s been doing her best to get the groceries and keep the apartment clean so Carol doesn’t try to do any more than she has already, but she’s so goddamned exhausted.

She wakes up on the couch to the sound of the door closing, and when she opens her eyes, Carol is leaning over her, a smell in the air that makes her mouth water immediately.

“Hi beautiful,” she greets, lifting an arm, “I got Chinese food.”

“Oh,” Maria struggles to sit up, with Carol’s help, “I love you.”

Carol laughs, her eyes crinkling as her mouth spreads into a wide grin. Maria reaches out to touch her cheek before she really knows what she’s doing, thumb brushing over the freckle under Carol’s eye.

The grin stays glued on Carol’s face, and her eyes soften as they so often do when she gazes at Maria, some mix between love and hurt. Maria stares seriously at her, debating once again if these peculiar feelings she’s had as of late are genuine, or the sad, hormonal urges of a soon-to-be single mom.

She doesn’t want to play with Carol’s heart; she knows Carol likes women and she’d be fooling herself if she tried to pretend that her best friend didn’t have strong feelings for her. 

A part of her says it’s terrible of her play house with Carol like this when she can’t possibly commit, but another part insists that if she’s found someone who loves her so dearly, if she knows she has it in her to reciprocate genuinely, then why shouldn’t she take full advantage?

“Thanks.” Maria says at last, dropping her hand, ducking her head, and pulling away.

♥♥♥

Fuck her fears of career setback, her mother’s disapproval, people’s judgement, feelings of unpreparedness, months of discomfort, the pain of childbirth...

It was all worth it.

She stares at her beautiful baby Monica, held gently in Carol’s arms, and wonders what else might be worth the risk.

“You are so beautiful,” Carol coos, “oh... I love you so much... it’s crazy...”

Maria looks away, before she can start crying again.

“Hey babe can you hold her?” Carol asks, “I want to grab something for you.”

“Oh?” Maria asks, blinking, as Carol hands her the well-swaddled infant.

She briefly wonders if what Carol is grabbing are Maria’s parents, but she knows that their flight isn’t due to land for another couple of hours.

Instead, Carol re-enters rubbing something shiny and damp. 

“They wanted me to disinfect it first,” Carol explains.

She dangles a beautiful gold chain in front of her, emblazoned ‘Monica’ in a curly font. 

“Oh, Carol,” Maria reaches out to touch it; it’s good quality, “that’s so thoughtful... put it on me?”

“I- sure.” Carol comes around to the side where Monica isn’t, leaning over the guardrails of the hospital bed to gently fasten the necklace around Maria’s neck. Her fingers are a little cold from having just washed them for the millionth time. She smells strongly of her fruity shampoo, having gone back to their apartment to shower and set up her room for Maria’s parents to sleep in.

Carol pulls her bottom lip into her mouth, eyes fixed to Maria’s collarbone, where the necklace rests.

“Where are you going to sleep,” Maria asks softly, “when we go home?”

“Oh, uhm,” she shrugs, meeting Maria’s eyes, “on the couch, I guess?”

“Why don’t you sleep in my room?” Maria whispers, taking Carol’s hand. 

“I- I’d love to.” Carol replies, as Maria presses a gentle kiss to her fingers.

♥♥♥

Maria’s parents leave a little less than two weeks after they arrived, unable to be away from work or Maria’s younger brother for too long.

Maria and Carol settle in on the couch together, Monica thankfully still asleep from their drive home, in Maria’s room. 

She sets her food aside, leaning into Carol and pressing her face into the woman’s neck. Carol stiffens briefly before melting into the touch, placing her bowl on the side table with her free hand. 

Now that Maria’s parents have vacated, she supposes that Carol will go back to sleeping in her own bed. She’ll miss the opportunity to watch her sleep while she feeds Monica in the middle of the night, miss the feeling of a warm body beside her, the brief moments of waking lightly to the awareness that some part of Carol is comfortably pressed up against her.

Carol turns her head just slightly, a serious, questioning look in her eyes as Maria lifts her head, gently resting her fingers on Carol’s face. When she doesn’t make any move to pull away, Maria closes the gap, pressing a soft kiss to her lips.

Carol doesn’t kiss back right away, but her fingers curl around the fabric at Maria’s waist, eyes closed tight, brow furrowed.

Maria slowly brings her other hand into Carol’s hair, half-sliding into her lap and kissing her again, more firmly. Carol fully reciprocates, this time, arms holding Maria tightly against her. A sweet, yearning sound falls from Carol’s lips as Maria nuzzles against her face; encouraged, she continues to press soft kisses over her brow, on her cheeks, and once more on her mouth.

“What are you doing?” Carol asks, throat tight. It’s a painful, desperate question, and once again Maria fears that this feeling will pass and she will hurt her best friend beyond repair.

“I don’t know,” Maria says, squeezing Carol’s cheeks until she opens her beautiful hazel eyes, wet with tears, “but I’ve wanted to do it for months.”

Warm tears run over Maria’s hands and she tuts soothingly, stroking her thumbs beneath Carol’s eyes. Carol’s fingers tighten their hold in Maria’s shirt, pulling her close, initiating their next kiss.

♥♥♥

“Look at this beeaauutiful babyyy,” Carol coos, swinging around the corner with their dripping, giggling 2 and a half year old tightly wrapped in a pink, fluffy towel.

Maria sets aside the notebook in her hand, filled with Carol’s personal writing, a fun fictional space story that Maria respects being trusted enough to be allowed to read. Carol’s back-up to becoming an astronaut was always becoming a writer, and while she’s surprisingly on track for the former, Maria thinks she’d be real good at either career she chose to pursue.

Carol sets Monica on the floor, who waddles towards her mother, laughing hysterically at her inability to move her arms as hard as she tries. 

Maria grins, pressing a kiss to her little nose, and says, “Let’s get you jammied and into bed. Gotta get Auntie Carol her bath next.”

“Oh, forreal?” Carol says, saluting, “Yessir. I’ll tidy up and draw a hot bath.”

“Use bubbles?” Monica asks.

“Yes, I’ll give her bubbles,” Maria says.

“Okay,” Monica waddles over to Carol, who squats to accept the kiss, “use my bubbles.”

“Thanks, Lieutenant Trouble. Nighty night.”

Maria takes Monica into Carol’s old room, where Monica’s been sleeping for a while now, unfastening the towel Carol had tightly burritoed around her, listening fondly to her daughter’s toddler-babble as she picks fresh kitty pajamas from the drawers, kicking her bedroom door closed before the naked girl can make a break for it to grab her stuffed toy from the living room.

“Auntie Carol will bring it,” Maria says, tugging Monica closer and helping her into her pants, “tell me more about daycare.”

Monica does, getting distracted from her own story several times by other very important things she has to tell Maria. By the time she’s lifted into bed, she’s considerably tuckered.

Carol brings Monica’s stuffed tiger, having tidied as promised. She gives their daughter a kiss goodnight, waiting for Maria to do the same, and pulls her out of the room towards their hot bath.

♥♥♥

By the light of the full moon, spilling softly across their sheets, across Carol’s hair, and her arm, and the one foot sticking out from the edge of the covers, Maria picks her way back into their room, into bed. She slides behind Carol, having fulfilled her senseless motherly urge to make sure Monica was still sleeping well.

Carol mumbles a question after her wellbeing, lifting her head and cracking open one sleepy eye. She pulls her hair around so it’s out of Maria’s face, tucking it aside.

“I’m good baby; I just went to check on Monica.” Maria assures.

Carol relaxes into her embrace, sighing sweetly as Maria wriggles closer, eliminating any room between them, Carol’s ass pressed comfortably into her hips. Maria feels so loved, holding this woman in her arms, who melts against her, noticeably calmed by the contact.

♥♥♥

Her room is painted pitch black, the full moon they were supposed to see tonight covered by a blanket of stormclouds. Rain patters softly against the window, drowned out now and then by the menacing growl of thunder in the distance. Maria has always pictured it physically rolling across the clouds towards them, like a stampede of cattle.

Monica wriggles against her chest, goaded blindly into her mother’s room by the cacophony outside. If she’s honest, from the moment she woke to the storm, Maria had been hoping it would rouse her daughter and bring her here, under the covers.

She’s got to be a normal mother still, got to set a good example. She’s got to move on. She can’t drag Monica down with her.

Even if she wants to talk about Carol every single day. Even if she’d love to never pack up her things, to touch them all the time. Even if she desperately misses having solid warmth beside her in bed.

Monica’s young, she’d of course jump at the chance to sleep beside her mother each night if invited, but Maria can’t give in, can’t rob Monica of healthy boundaries and normal habits just to appease her own grief.

But tonight, it’s storming.

Tonight, she’s got an excuse.

♥♥♥

“I’m looking for Maria Rambeau?” Carol asks.

Carol.

♥♥♥

“What the-”

If not for the audible giggles of two very-more-likely culprits, Maria might have thought she’d been robbed, from the first look at her kitchen and hallway. 

Absolutely nothing is where it’s supposed to be- except for the piano, thank god- instead arranged in an absurd hodgepodge in the living room, designed to support every blanket they own. 

Their largest couch has been pulled across the front of the room, opposite from its normal position. The coffee table is settled backwards on one of its smaller sides, legs interlocked with stools from their kitchen, propped against the couch. Their armchair, piano bench, smaller tables, and other furniture from all over downstairs have been seized for this effort.

“Maria!” Carol calls, hidden inside the fort, “Come in! The entrance is by the-” she flicks a blanket, which flutters, “here.”

Maria sighs, crouching down and crawling inside, careful not to pull too hard on the ‘door’ of the fort and bring everything she owns crashing down on her daughter’s head.

“Hello.”

“Hi Mom!” Monica greets sweetly, a wide grin on her face, “How was the car?”

“Oh, easy fix.” Maria says, “They had a problem with their transmission, but nothing too serious... I see you two have been busy.”

“We built a fort!” Monica says.

“So I see.”

She’s tempted to ask _who_ is going to be responsible for washing all these blankets they’re getting dusty, but she’s trying to get Carol practice in being the less-fun parent, so she’ll wait and see when the idea occurs to her by herself.

“And what have you been doing in this fort?” Maria asks, eyeing the notebook clutched in Carol’s hand.

“Auntie Carol’s been reading me a story that she wrote about space!”

“It’s old,” Carol laughs, “I recognize my handwriting, but I don’t remember writing it.”

“I do,” Maria says, smiling fondly.

“It’s full of inaccuracies.” Carol says, “I guess I’ll have to write a better one in my free time, next time I’m away.”

Monica looks solemn at the thought of Carol leaving, as she has been doing on and off for the months she’s been committed to them again.

“Will you read that one to me, too?”

“Of course, baby.”

“Finish reading this one,” Maria commands, turning and laying on Carol’s leg, under the soft glow of lightbulbs filtered by a patchwork of sheets, “don’t stop on my account.”

“Of course not,” Carol says, cracking open the notebook and reading words Maria knows by heart.

♥♥♥

“Looking like it’s going to be real cloudy tonight....” Carol mumbles to herself, for the third time that day, “Why don’t you let me cook, Maria?”

“Now what in the hell is the correlation between those two statements?”

Carol turns, winking. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“Oh boy.” Maria finishes drying her hands, having washed them in preparation to cook, and tosses the rag down on the counter, “Have at it, no complaints from me.”

“Have a snack,” Carol advises, looking out the window again, “it’ll be a bit.”

Maria eyes her partner suspiciously, but heads up to suggest Monica have a snack, on account of her stepmother acting ridiculous.

She settles into her room to read, thinking how nice it would be if Carol were to join her here in bed as long as she’s not going to cook yet. After the wishing doesn’t work, she tries a more forward approach, catching Carol in the hall and pressing up against her, sliding one knee between her legs, arms looped over her shoulders. 

Carol hums appreciatively, returning affection with soft hands under Maria’s shirt as she kisses her back... before patting her ass once and continuing out the front door.

“What-” Maria tosses her hands up, befuddled. She frowns at her own gesture, quite reminiscent of her mother, and goes back to her room to pout.

Carol returns, after a while, from the sound of the front door closing. Maria’s gotten into her book, so she leaves the woman to whatever she is plotting.

She’s just starting to think she _really_ should have taken the suggestion to get a snack when Carol finally pops her head in.

“Time to leave for dinner.”

“You’re not even cooking?” Maria asks, incredulously. 

“I did.”

“That bad...?”

“Nooo, it’s packed. Come on.”

“Are we going on a picnic?!!” Monica asks, bounding into the room through the narrow space between Carol and their bedroom door.

Maria follows Carol downstairs. She trusts her enough to feel excited for whatever this is going to be, but is unable to figure out why Carol has seemingly waited for the worst weather they’ve had in a week to pull them out for a picnic. Rain patters softly against the window as Carol unlocks the backdoor, and Maria levels a look at her.

“Maria, babe, can you grab dinner?” Carol asks, gesturing to the basket on the counter as she pops an umbrella open outside. 

“What’s that?”

Maria turns, scooping the basket up faster and dashing outside to see whatever her daughter is pointing at.

“My spaceship.”

“What!”

“Shh, Mon.” Carol whispers, glancing around, a devious grin on her face, “Let's go in.”

Monica doesn't need to be told twice. The second Carol opens the door, she clambers inside, buoyed by the encouragement to explore the small space.

Carol catches Maria's arm, leaning in under the umbrella, keeping them both outside. 

"I need your permission for something." Carol whispers, "We can have dinner on the ship here... or..." she points, upward, "there."

"Wh-" 

Maria looks up, towards the cloudy sky. 

"I needed the cover of night and clouds to get the ship down but also to get it into orbit." She continues, "The propulsion would be far too flashy, but I can lift this thing myself with minimal engine power coming from it."

Maria considers this, beneath the pouring rain. Monica pokes her head out. 

"You guys coming in?"

"Yes, I just needed to give your mother four kisses."

"Ew." Monica says disappearing back inside.

“Okay.” Maria nods, “If you think it’s safe, I trust you.”

She leans in, giving Carol four quick kisses, and climbs in the spaceship.

It’s pretty tiny, not considerably larger than the adapted jet they took into space to rescue the Skrulls. There’s two seats up front, with a complicated array of controls crammed into the flight deck, and a short cabin full of empty space in the back that’s honestly not much to look at.

“Is this it?” Monica asks, but pokes at panels on the wall in a way that implies she very much knows it isn’t.

“Not quite,” Carol says, “you’ve got the right idea though.”

She takes the food from Maria, swiping her hand over one section of bare wall until it segments itself into a series of panels. Carol sets the basket onto the floor and the panels shift around, stacking themselves into a perfectly sized box around it, the excess squares shifting back out of view.

“Cooool....” Monica says, delighted.

“I have more.”

She waves them away from the center of the cabin, towards the flight deck, slipping into the captain’s seat to flick a couple of switches. Maria and Monica watch as a nondescript, boring bed eases out of the wall. Maria’s hit with an unexpected pang of sadness at the small, lonely bed Carol’s been spending her nights away in. 

Another panel opens from the wall and Maria sees several notebooks, Carol’s guitar, and other little nick nacks stacked within before it and the bed disappear again from sight.

Next, four seats rise from the floor, locking into place with a heavy click. Carol comes out from the cockpit with clothes in hand, dressed fully in her flight suit. 

“Well hello, Captain Marvel.” Maria coos, leaning backwards into the wall.

“Captain Photon,” Carol salutes, “please assume your position. Lieutenant Trouble, buckle on up.”

“Huh?” Monica says, hopping in place, wild excitement in her eyes.

“I’m gonna take her up real slow,” Carol says, “because you’re not trained to handle g-forces, baby, but it shouldn’t take too long.”

“Into space?!”

“If your mom says it’s okay.”

“Hell yeah.” Maria calls, from the captain’s seat.

Monica cheers, jumping around excitedly. Carol grins wide, eyes glassy as she slides in next to Maria, pointing out different essential switches and controls.

“We’ll keep the engines on which- well, it’ll be like throwing the car in neutral. It’ll help me lift it.” Carol says, “Your job is mostly to monitor the flight for me and keep in touch on the comm. Should anything happen- it won’t- you can take over and land.”

Maria leans in, kissing Carol firmly.

“Yessir.”

Carol throws her brown leather jacket around Monica’s shoulders, kissing her on the cheek and helping her securely fasten herself into the seat diagonally behind Maria before departing out of the non-pressurized airlock in the back. Maria sets all the controls as instructed, preparing the cabin for takeoff. She goes through the checklist written in English on the wall, verifying each step with Carol before clearing them to leave.

“Hello, I’m Captain Rambeau,” she says, goofily into the comm, “I’ll be your First Officer this evening. Welcome aboard our nonstop service from RMO to RBT... that’s Rambeau to Orbit... Should be about 45 minutes to our destination, with no ETA yet for landing.

“Low visibility tonight with cloudy skies, some rain, and wind coming out of the east. Captain Danvers, my partner tonight, will be strugglin’ out there getting her ass wet in the storm for us, while we stay nice and dry in here. Please ensure your seats are in the upright position, your seatbelt is fastened, and all luggage is stowed for takeoff. Please enjoy your flight.”

Maria smiles at the delighted giggles from Monica in the back and Carol back on the comms.

“Love you,” Carol says. 

The next sound out of her mouth is a strained huff, before the ship shifts, lifting off the ground. The engines hum in response as they gain altitude and Maria tries not to think too hard about the fact that their main form of propulsion is Carol. 

“This is soooo cool!” Monica yells, from the back.

“It’s so fucking cool.” Maria chuckles, shaking her head.

Maria keeps the comm on the open channel between the cabin, herself, and Carol for now, so Monica can listen to her serious, clear-cut monitoring of their altitude, pressure, radar, speed. She jokes back and forth with Carol some amount, but demands a sterile flight deck for most of the journey, barring any conversation that isn’t between her and her co-pilot about their ascent. 

Eventually, the cabin shakes tellingly. Their speed increases temporarily until dropping off.

Again, Maria experiences the surreal and delightful feeling of zero gravity, turning to meet Monica’s eye. Her daughter’s mouth is agape, eyes fixed on her clothes, her shoelaces, the way her hair reacts when she shakes her head, then on her mother and the way her necklace and hair float in place.

Maria smiles widely. Her eyes water in response, unnaturally stinging sharply. She screws her eyes shut, opening them briefly as she turns to activate their centralized gravity controls. Two tears drip into her lap as Maria shakes her head, laughing at the bizarre sensations. Monica cackles behind her.

At the heavy knock in the back of the plane, Maria opens the airlock. Carol enters through the second set of doors, arms held out widely.

“How was that??”

“SO COOL!” Monica yells, bouncing in place. 

Carol invites them both to unbuckle, waving Monica towards the copilot’s seat. She squats between them, pointing out at the stars through the wide windshield.

“Hey Mon, you think you’re the first human kid in space?”

Monica yells again, beyond excited. Maria joins her, hollering at the endless stars before them as Carol chuckles and leans against her partner’s arm. 

“Woah,” Maria reaches out to hold Carol’s shoulder as the two seats in the flight deck slide backwards, giving them almost three times as much room between the controls, triggered by Carol’s hands under their seats. 

“Sorry,” Carol laughs, standing, turning to face Maria. She looks tempted to lean against the controls, but catches herself.

“I’ll grab dinner but, first...” Carol pulls her bottom lip into her mouth, breathing deeply through her nose, “I just wanted to share this with you two. I love you so much.”

“We love you too, baby.” Maria says, softly. 

“I wanted to share this other part of my life with you... isn’t it beautiful?” She gestures behind her as she speaks, but does not turn, “It’s all I wanted when I was a kid, but honestly... it pales in comparison to what I have down there.” Carol smiles, correcting, “Well you two are up here right now, but you know...”

“Carol...”

“I uh,” Carol fidgets, palming her belt, “I just wanted to thank you. For letting me back into your life... for letting me in in the first place... you’ve made me happier than I ever thought I could be.”

Her messy hair hangs wildly around her head like a halo, framed by the stunning backdrop of outer space.

She drops to the floor, on one knee, facing Maria fully and revealing a ring between her fingers. 

Maria holds two hands over her mouth, laughing joyfully. Monica pulls her feet up onto the chair excitedly, hands balled into fists against her knee.

“I know we’re... kind of already...”

“Say it anyway!” Monica stage-whispers, curling into a tighter ball.

“I would love nothing more than to spend forever with you... Maria, darling.. will you marry me?”

“We _are_ already-” Maria laughs, “but yes, of course.”

She throws her arms around Carol’s neck, kneeling with her on the floor, and kisses her firmly. 

Carol’s arms slide around her waist, carefully pulling her around through the gap between the seats and into the cabin. Maria doesn’t break the kiss, waiting until Carol has set her gently back on her feet to pull away, bringing two hands under her jaw.

“Heh heh,” Carol chuckles, thrilled, pulling the ring back up in-between them- a beautiful black band speckled with gold embedded into a clear center, the whole way around, so it seems to hang in place- “look it’s uhm, well this part’s vibranium, the strongest metal in the galaxy, and this is... they call it something that translates to stardust but it’s an element... not one of ours... isn't it pretty? I don’t know what the resin is, but it’s strong, reinforced by the vibranium.”

Maria leans in again, to kiss her quickly, holding out a shaky hand for Carol to place the ring on. Carol gently takes hold, steadying it, staring softly into her eyes as she slides the ring onto Maria’s finger.

“You need one too...” Monica says, standing on the copilot chair backwards, fingers wrapped over the back of the seat.

Carol pulls a second ring, studded with blue stardust, from her belt, winking at Monica.

Maria laughs, shaking her head, and pulls the ring from Carol’s finger, taking her left wrist to put it on her.

“No take-backs.” Carol says.

“Is that your vows?” Maria asks.

She kisses her again, against the backdrop of stars, all alone with the two most important people in her life.

♥♥♥

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you have time to leave a comment, please do! They make me very happy.
> 
> If you liked this fic, please consider reading the very long and fun domestic fic it's from: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19072861/chapters/45308554


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